Wall Street and Washington Organized Crime in America

Organized crime in America, which was long associated with Tony Soprano wannabes, shifted to the major brokerage houses and current banking institutions on Wall Street, as well as major and smaller banks across America and the mortgage brokers that worked with them. The extent to which actual criminal activities occurred is being investigated by the FBI, but ethical and moral crimes were committed on a daily basis by people driven by greed and unbelievable ignorance of the cumulative effects of their money manipulation policies and tactics.

The shift of organized crime was aided and abetted by lax oversight laws in Washington and the failure to exercise the stripped-down oversight powers that remained. The Republican Party, rulers of Congress since the mid-90s, had nothing but contempt for regulatory rules and statutes which were viewed as hindrances to unfettered operations of markets. Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac ran amok paying little or no attention to what their true functions and responsibilities were. The Republicans were joined by the Democrats who were all too willing to accept donations from lobbyists from financial organizations and other inducements that made it possible for the financial debacle to occur. In this quasi criminal environment, members of Congress never retired, they just went to work as lobbyists for the organizations they were supposed to oversee. Members of Congress were accessories in a new model of organized crime.

All of the above occurred in an environment in which the Bush administration subverted the Constitution, tortured people contrary to existing American laws, lied to the American people and the rest of the world, and perpetrated an endless series of misinformation and manipulation. This constituted organized crime on the part of the presidency of the United States. I don't cite specifics because that would take many pages, but surely the lie about the existence of weapons of mass of destruction in Iraq constituted a high crime and misdemeanor on the part of the president. When Joe Wilson attempted to speak up about the misinformation supplied to the American people, the Bush administration struck back by "outing" his CIA employed wife. This was followed by a series of lies and cover-ups which protected the people who actually ordered the felony.

Many people in the financial markets and throughout America are decrying the end of capitalism. If capitalism has died it was a result of its own misdeeds and failure to police itself.